Guard Dog

Looks like Romney is pulling ahead again. BTW have you all heard the absolutely vile and slightly racisist attacks on Herman Cain coming from left wing pundits such as Oberman, Matthews & Shaprton. If they hate him that much he must be good! And a big THANK YOU to Sarah Palin for doing the right thing and not imposing her presence on this election. Edit: Sorry, here is the link: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/la...olls/elections/

Not entirely on topic but I thought this was worth discussing. California has banned the use of tanning beds by people under the age of 18. There are a number of harmful activites that minors are not allowed to do like smoking, drinking, etc because the idea is their judgement is not developed enough to appreciate the risks. I guess this could be considered on par with smoking and drinking because excesses of each is indisputably dangerous. Opinions? http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/09/...E7982DJ20111009

Now reading Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America about people forming sulf sufficient communities with no outside electricity, utilities, government etc. It might be a better book if the author (Nick Rosen) was not such a self-rightous, pretentions, condescending, jerk.

Especially since it the entire third book re-hashed. It was obvious Scalzi signed a four book deal but only had enough ideas to write three.

I've watched it a little on Youtube & News coverage. It seems like it's made up of a handful of Campus Communists and a few hundred useful idiots. Most of the folks there when asked are unable to fomulate a coherent sentence about why they are there. The few that can are obviously left wing nut jobs/commies. The irony is that ten years from now the ones that actually do graduate will be working for the companies they are protesting against and probably doing well in them.

Going to New Orleans tomorrow for work. This trip will wrap up a huge project that has been a big priority of ours for the last few months. Should make for a nice little bonus at years end. Unfortunately this will be the last design project we do. Going forward the company is returning the lower cost, higher stability job of network management For me it will mean a return to the more mundane work (FCC license management & FAA tower compliance) I originally hired on for. I am seriously thinking about striking out on my own with a design/consulting business. If anyone out there has a BSEE or equivalent experience in RF Network and Microwave design/maintenance and a FCC GROL/1st Class and don't mind working long hours for low pay send me your resume.

I built a row of rabbit cages with a small fenced in enclosure. Sometime next week I'll see about buying a herd and give rabbit farming a try. The trick will be to keep the coyotes out but I think I've got it figured out.

Isn't that supposed to be a delicacy? Anyway, you're a good son doing that for her!

No it is the worst....except for every other kind.

I'm wondering, though, just how unhealthy/toxic does something have to be to warrant banning its sale as food, in your opinion? Not trying to be aggressive here - I'm not sure banning trans-fats is a smart idea, either. Just curious as to where you'd draw the line. If it WILL kill/harm the consumer with just small doses in a short to moderate time then ban it. Fen-Fen comes to mind. If it MIGHT kill/harm in large doses over a long time, don't ban but educate on the dangers and benfefits of moderation. Tobacco, trans-fat, etc.

It seems the French have declared war on soda. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-20...Cola-Fanta.html

Romney/Cain huh? I can certainly live with that. I'm very impressed with Herman Cain, but his lack of political experience makes him a dubious choice for the most political job in the country. Romney is not an ideal candidate in my opinion, but he is the best of poor choices. Either way he's 1000s times better than Obama. I'd be happy with Romney/Cain in 2012 & 2016 and Cain/? in 2020. Bachman has become the Republican version of Joe Biden and can not get out of her own way. Gingrich, c'mon, seriously? Perry I've gone from sort of liking when I knew little about him to despising when I knew a lot about him. Ron Paul, not going to happen. Sorry, wish it were otherwise but, not gonna happen. The rest have no shot.

There is no privacy on the internet. Unfortunately it is the nature of the beast.

Has the world become so politically polarized that two people of opposing political views cannot treat each other with civility? I have never held anyones political opinions, no matter how boneheaded or irrational, against them personally. People think they way they do because of the lessons they learned in their life experience. If you lead a totally different life from someone else, odds are you will have a totally different outlook on things. Makes perfect sense right? Anyway, I started dating this lady I met, a high school social science/civics/history teacher. We've been out a few times, it seemed like it was going well. We sparred about politics a little because she is definitely left of center but to me it's all in good fun. At least I thought so. Turns out it made her so mad that I had a totally different opinion on (insert issue name here) that she broke it off all together. And not very nicely either. Jeez, I thought a good argument was supposed to lead to some spirited make up sex and a good laugh. What is it about the left wing types that they seems to be perpetually unhappy and they get mad that you're not pissed off too? Anyway, I'm going to pour a drink, put some pink floyd on the ipod, and sit on the porch until the coyotes howl. Then maybe howl back at them.

I eat pretty healthy I guess. I do not eat "fast food". I eat beef only occasionly and then steaks almost exclusively. In fact I've started growing my own food a least a little bit. But these are all choices I've made myself. It strikes me wrong for government entities to presume they have final say over what goes in my mouth. And to tell the truth this is an issue that does not really beg for a solution. Since this thread popped up I've been reading about it and a number of big companies and restraunts are already stopping the use of transfats. Arbys, Whattaburger, White Castle, KFC, Nabisco, Kal-Can, come to mind readily. The truth is, as eople find out what transfat is and what it does to you they will drive the change in the marketplace by buying non-transfat products which will ultimatly complet companies that use transfat to stop. As far as taxing it using "sin taxes" I guess I have no objection to that. Exorbirant taxes on cigarettes combined with public education has made a hell of a dent in smoking and that is not a bad thing. But banning it going too far.

If Hades were still here he'd tell you it's simple. The one that sucks more, that's reality. Good ol' Sand, he always did look on the brighter side didn't he?

Just got home, had a date tonight. It went pretty well.

I'm not a big fan of "Sin Taxes" because taxes are supposed to be a means of funding government, not altering economic/personal activity. As a means of creating revenue sin taxes are a poor choice because the more you tax something, the less you have of it. For example, increase the tax on beer and people by less beer. If you wanted to make money on beer you just screwed the pooch, if you wanted fewer people to drink beer, mission accomplished. So yes using taxes as a tool for behaviour modification is a little bit of an infringement of freedom but not a severe one because you have not prevented people from buying beer if they want it. Now Krezzie's solution banning something all together is a whole horse of another color. That is a blatant infringement of freedom and something that should be opposed. The government is not your mother, it can not tell you what you have to eat. Like Morgoth said, you put the information out there, make everyone aware your target "sin" (be it alchohol, trans-fat, tobacco, etc) is bad for you and here is why then let people make the choices they make. Besides, I don't know about the rest of the world but in the US sin taxes are very easy to avoid. If Tennessee imposed a 50% tax on booze or something like that I'll just drive accross the river to Arkansas and buy it there. Anyone who has ever cleaned out a grease trap at a fast food joint will never eat fast food again. Trust me on that one.

I've only actually faced Turk organ guns once. Surprised the crap out of me, and unluckily for my AI opponent my fight response kicked in. The entire army bore down on the luckless battery. Only got off one more salvo. I had 8 batteries of 4" mortars. I formed up the army beyond their artillery range and spent the the first 15 min of the engagement in counter battery fire, raining hard shot and carcass shot on their artillery until it broke and fled. Then sent in the infantry at an oblique angle to their front line and swept their flank with Hussars once the line was engaged. Old Boney would have been proud. Artillery is the queen of battle. Anywho, I could talk Total War games all day, by far my favorite games ever.

Today was a lazy day. I spent the morning playing Empire Total War leading the armies of the Tsar through Armenia and Turkey. Then I fell asleep on the couch while watching football. I woke up after dark and could not gin up the motivation for anything more complex than a bowl of Raisin Bran for dinner.

This would be nice. I wonder if al-Qaeda would have become irrelevant on it's own of if it has become so only because the US, UK and dozens of other governments have been so effective in hunting them down and killing them like the vermin they are?

Yeah, yeah. you are such a humanitarian. I'm surprised you haven't started arguing yet that we should lift the ban on drink driving. Such a nanny state principle. I've yet to hear a drink driver not assure the cops that he wasn't fully capable of judging whether or not he was able to drive, so why should the state take that decision away from him. What are a few deaths and destroyed families in the big picture when peoples freedoms are impaired? I'm sure you can see the fatal flaw in your logic!

Dune....boring.....who-is-this-person! Give us his name! Actually Dune is one of my favorites of all time right up to like the fourth book, then it jumped the shark and became absurd.

No reading Hemingway's Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost by Paul Hendrickson. If you are a fan of Papa you would enjoy it. Also reading The Art of Fielding. Everyone is raving how good this book is, I don't see it. It's ok I guess but sort of...meh.